The Death of Jesus in the Quran

The Death of Jesus in the Qur'an.
In this article, I will be discussing the Qur'anic verses on the death of Jesus.Muslims make the claim that sura 4:157 makes it clear what happened to Jesus, but this is done in ignorance of other verses in the Qur'an.Moreover, they state that the Bible itself proves that Jesus was not crucified.Well I am here to make the opposite statement, namely, that Qur'an says that Jesus died!.I will qoute the verse here and then proceed my arguments:

And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. 4:157

As I said above, things are not so clear when we look at some other verses.Firstly, lets us look at Sura 2:87:

And verily We gave unto Moses the Scripture and We caused a train of messengers to follow after him, and We gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs (of Allah's sovereignty), and We supported him with the Holy spirit. Is it ever so, that, when there cometh unto you a messenger (from Allah) with that which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow arrogant, and some ye disbelieve and some ye slay?.

According to this verse of the Qur'an, many prophets were murdered by the Jews.If that is true, why did God save Jesus from death when he did not save those prophets?.Does it make sense?.What is the reason?.

Secondly, when you look at the verse carefully, the Qur'an is condemning people for rejecting and killing prophets right after the mention of Jesus.Doesn't this leave room for other interpretations such as what is mentioned in the parable of the wicked tenants?:

5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. (Mark 12)

Jesus tells the Jews that they killed the prophets, and then mentions His own death.So Sura 2:87 does give a similar idea.

Another verse of the Quran which contradicts 4:157 is this:

Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him. Will it be that, when he dieth or is slain, ye will turn back on your heels? He who turneth back on his heels doth no hurt to Allah, and Allah will reward the thankful. 3:144

According to this verse, Prophets have "passed away" before Mohammad.

Interestingly, Sher Ali's translation says "all messengers", which would include Jesus Himself.And the obvious implication of the passage is death since it was revealed in the context of rumors of Mohammad's death.Moreover, a similar verse is used for Jesus Himself in the Qur'an (5:75) and Islamic theology doesn't mention a Prophet who did not die before Jesus.

Perhaps the most interesting verse on this issue is the following:

Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! 19:33

This Qur'anic verse about Jesus tells the story of Christmas (Jesus was born), Good Friday (He died) and Easter (He was raised alive) in one sentence!.

But Muslims tells us that this talking about the death of Jesus in the future when he will come again.But this goes against another verse which says :

Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dieth and the day he shall be raised alive! 19:15

This verse is about Yahya, John the baptist.Both Muslims and Christians believe that he died in that time only.So how can Muslims come with a different interpretation of virtually the same words just a few verses later?.At least they would have to agree that as per this verse, Jesus did die.

One more problem with the crucifixion is found in Sura 3:55 which states:

And (remember) when Allah said: "O `Isa! I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify (save) you from those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection.

The word for "take you and raise you" is found in other verses of the Qur'an in relation to death.Observe:

It is He Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep). (6:60)

It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. (39:42)

Abd Al Masih states:

The other word in this text is "mutawaffika." Allah says, "I will let you pass". This word has several meanings. It also expresses the sense of "falling asleep gently" or of "finishing one's life successfully.

The Turkish and Indonesian translations use for this word of the Qur'an the equivalent of "I will let you die in peace", because that is the meaning closest to the root of this word. Some other translators, however, struggle with this expression, to please Islamic commentators.

(The Stumbling Block Of The Cross Explained To Muslims chapter IV)

So, it is evident that the Qur'an is not only unclear, but also contradictory on the fate of Jesus.However, there is one last problem.Sura 4:157 states:

but it appeared so unto them

This means that Jesus did not die by crucifixion, but it was made to look like he had died on the cross.

The most common Muslim interpretation is that a look alike of Jesus, perhaps Judas or Simon of Cyrene was put on the cross instead of Jesus while Jesus was raised alive by God.

No matter how you look at it, the verse is clear that the people saw something which had not happened, namely, Jesus wasn't crucified.

But here lies the problem.This verse of the Qur'an potrays God as a deceiver, because God actually deceived the people who were watching by making them believe that Jesus had died.Ibn Kathir, in the commentary of Sura 3:54 (Tafsir.com)states:

However, Allah deceived these people. He saved and raised His Prophet from them, leaving them in disarray in the darkness of their transgression, thinking that they had successfully achieved their goal

The point to be noted is that is was not only the enemies of Jesus who were "deceived", but also His followers.This evident from the earliest literature on Jesus, both Christian and non-Christian, which states that Jesus Christ died on the cross.

So, Allah, in the process of "deceiving" people accidentally started Christianity which based on the death of Jesus on the Cross.My dear Muslim friends, when ever you agree with Qur'an on Sura 4:157, you are actually saying that God is a deceiver who started a false religion which ironically became the only religion in world which outnumbers Islam!